In Dallas, they refer to the red zone, that area inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, as the green zone–emphatically so.
“When you play offense it’s called the green zone–it’s go, go, go, go,” Dallas coach Barry Switzer said animatedly. “You’ve got to go. In the red zone we stop them.”
Too often this season for Switzer’s 4-4 Cowboys, the offense has been stopped, stopped, stopped, stopped. Their green zone, where things are supposed to go, go, go, go, has been a red zone, where things come to a halt, halt, halt, halt.
Of their 30 forays inside their opponents’ 20-yard line, Dallas has scored 30 times, but 21 have been on field goals by Richie Cunningham. Worse yet, Emmitt Smith, the great, indefatigable Emmitt, has rushed for only one touchdown . . . since last Thanksgiving. This from a man who has 116 of them in the regular season for his career.
“It’s so frustrating,” Switzer said. “Not scoring, having the ball in the green zone . . . we have not made the plays. That’s the difference why we’re not 7-1 or 8-0. Just make a touchdown in any one of those (losses) and we win the game.”
Dallas is scoring touchdowns at an NFC-worst 28.1 percent clip in the zone–red, green, plaid, whatever. The Cowboys will look to improve in that facet of offense when they play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at 3Com Park.
“It’s red zone, red zone, red zone,” 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said. “The whole world calls it red zone.
“The most important stat is touchdown percentage,” Mariucci said, referring to the Cowboys. “I hope it continues. They’re very capable. Troy Aikman is very capable of shooting one in there (for a TD) real fast.”
The 49ers will send their No. 1-ranked defense, which is also No. 1 against the run, after the Cowboys’ No. 19 offense. Dallas is seemingly in a bad way on offense with Aikman coming off a concussion, fullback Daryl Johnston out for the season, left tackle Mark Tuinei out for the game and All-Pro guard Larry Allen pulling emergency duty at Tuinei’s left tackle spot.
Like Niners quarterback Steve Young, who has had several concussions, Aikman said he is concerned about his health, but not so much that he would sit out this game.
“I certainly don’t want to minimize the seriousness of the injury, other than me saying I’m concerned about it,” Aikman said. “I don’t know what else to say. A lot of people ask me, `How many more can you take?’ It’s hard to answer because I don’t know what the next concussion will bring.”
Like Young, Aikman hopes that day never comes.
“To walk away from the game when I feel like I can still compete would be very difficult to do,” he said. “I’m not experiencing any postconcussion syndrome effects that some of the players before me have talked about.”
Aikman is having a decent season despite his team’s greenish red-zone problems. He has 11 touchdown passes against three interceptions, but with a passer rating of 84.9, he’s down there with the Chris Chandlers, the Scott Mitchells and the Vinny Testaverdes. He’s a career 63 percent passer with a 1997 percentage of 56.3. Dallas is holding on with a defense that is ranked No. 2 in the league, behind the 49ers.
“Looking at it in the bigger picture, it’s just the fact we haven’t scored more points,” Aikman said. “We’ve gotten down in there as much as Green Bay and San Francisco. We’ve just failed to get the ball in the end zone.”
Although Smith may not be the player he was from 1991-95, some of the blame for Dallas’ decline–it’s too soon to call it demise–has to go to the offensive line, that formerly overpowering unit. Clay Shiver for retired center Ray Donaldson represents a minus. George Hegamin is inexperienced at left tackle and gives way to Allen on third down. Right tackle Erik Williams is not as formidable as he once was.
“Rest assured,” Mariucci said, “they will play their best game against us.”
And why is that, Coach?
“Because it’s us.”
